In many cases, schools will have their language translation settings set up upon initial installation of the SwiftK12 account. Sometimes, the decision to add language translations comes later, and this guide is designed to help you get set up with language translation in SwiftK12 for the first time.
***Important: If you are not sure which field in Powerschool you use for a student’s primary language, or if you wish to use a field other than StudentCoreFields.PrimaryLanguage to designate the preferred language for students in SwiftK12, please contact support before reading this guide so we may assist you!***
Step 1: Determine the codes that you wish to use to designate a student’s preferred language.
- You will want to know where PrimaryLanguage is in your Powerschool, what codes you have in this field for students whose primary language is not English, and which code corresponds to which available language in SwiftK12.
- For your reference: here are the available languages:
(Note: Languages marked as Translate Only can only be used in Email messages, and not Text To Speech voice messages. However, you can always record your own voice in the desired language.)
Step 2: Map the language codes to allow SwiftK12 to understand which code corresponds to the desired language.
- The language “code” is the information you put in your language field in Powerschool, to designate that student’s language.
- For example, you can have SPA and/or Spanish and/or Span correspond to the “Spanish” language translation of SwiftK12.
- Go to Settings -> Language Mappings
- Click “Add Language Mapping.”
- Under PS Language Code, type in the code you use in Powerschool, and its corresponding language, then click "Save."
- You can have multiple codes represent the same language, just in case the codes for a specific language in Powerschool are not consistent.
Step 3: Rebuild Your Plugin and run a sync using the guide titled “Rebuilding, Downloading, and Reinstalling the SwiftK12 Plugin.”
You’re done! The sync should pull over the information from the PrimaryLanguage field to determine which language to use when sending messages with language translation enabled.
If you need assistance or have questions regarding this feature, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Support at (888) 786-9051, or via email support at k12support@alertsolutions.com. We also offer Live Chat Help from directly within your SwiftK12 portal available from 9AM to 5PM EST.